WEBVTT 00:00:00.810 --> 00:00:07.110 This week, one of our members, Laura Mayo, fell 00:00:07.110 --> 00:00:10.369 asleep in the Lord. Most of you probably don't 00:00:10.369 --> 00:00:14.970 know or did not know Laura. She had a very long 00:00:14.970 --> 00:00:23.030 illness with cancer. I am thankful that she received 00:00:23.030 --> 00:00:27.690 Holy Communion just before she reposed. May her 00:00:27.690 --> 00:00:32.649 memory be eternal. And yesterday, our dear brother 00:00:32.649 --> 00:00:37.090 Niles was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. 00:00:38.329 --> 00:00:45.149 Yesterday also, 20th anniversary of that tragedy 00:00:45.149 --> 00:00:52.210 of 9 -11. And you know all the tragedy that continued 00:00:52.210 --> 00:00:57.450 after that. We live in a world, as you know, 00:00:58.380 --> 00:01:08.200 of suffering and death. I receive emails frequently, 00:01:08.379 --> 00:01:12.439 and now we have a parish on our parish website, 00:01:12.599 --> 00:01:17.239 a place to click if you want to ask for a prayer. 00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:20.519 I receive emails constantly for prayers, people 00:01:20.519 --> 00:01:25.180 not in this parish, far and wide. Suffering, 00:01:25.180 --> 00:01:29.599 sick, lost a loved one, a loved one took his 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:35.260 or her own life, and so on and so forth. But 00:01:35.260 --> 00:01:38.299 there's also, and I don't say this in the trite 00:01:38.299 --> 00:01:41.780 way, but in the most profound way, because we 00:01:41.780 --> 00:01:45.599 believe in the one who has given us life, who 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:48.659 came into the world, not to condemn the world, 00:01:48.780 --> 00:01:54.040 but to save the world. We have hope, and we have 00:01:54.040 --> 00:02:00.459 trust. And we have faith that new life is always 00:02:00.459 --> 00:02:04.420 coming too. I received a call recently that a 00:02:04.420 --> 00:02:06.579 woman conceived a child. The family is growing 00:02:06.579 --> 00:02:11.319 now. Someone else gave birth. Someone else came 00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:14.500 to the church. Someone else wants to be a catechumen. 00:02:14.780 --> 00:02:18.120 Someone else did a good deed silently, quietly, 00:02:18.360 --> 00:02:23.900 secretly. A very profound thing that they did. 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:32.039 In the church, isn't it glorious? Isn't it such 00:02:32.039 --> 00:02:38.419 an amazing miracle that whether we live or we 00:02:38.419 --> 00:02:43.180 die, whether we suffer or whether we are well, 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:50.719 whether we rejoice or lament, at every step of 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:56.780 the way in the church, We are given consolation. 00:02:56.939 --> 00:03:02.460 We are given hope. That what Jesus said, that 00:03:02.460 --> 00:03:05.599 the Son of Man didn't come to condemn the world, 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:07.500 but to save the world. We're given hope that 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:11.219 that's an actual, that's a truth, that's a reality. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:17.259 We just celebrated, and today we're doing the 00:03:17.259 --> 00:03:20.620 leave -taking of the Nativity of the Theotokos. 00:03:22.030 --> 00:03:24.889 We celebrated her conception in December and 00:03:24.889 --> 00:03:28.629 her birth just the other day. This is a birth 00:03:28.629 --> 00:03:32.590 that changed the course of the world and changed 00:03:32.590 --> 00:03:38.650 every life here. Each one of us. Each one of 00:03:38.650 --> 00:03:42.330 us was changed profoundly by that birth. And 00:03:42.330 --> 00:03:47.229 then through her life. And now through her intercessions. 00:03:48.409 --> 00:03:51.830 This is the life of the church. And today we 00:03:51.830 --> 00:03:56.210 have this Sunday, we celebrate the Sunday before 00:03:56.210 --> 00:04:00.310 the feast day of the elevation, the exaltation 00:04:00.310 --> 00:04:04.889 of the precious cross. Again, God is with us 00:04:04.889 --> 00:04:09.330 through our suffering because we bear our own 00:04:09.330 --> 00:04:12.289 crosses and in our death. Because when we were 00:04:12.289 --> 00:04:15.610 baptized, we died to sin and death and we rose 00:04:15.610 --> 00:04:18.769 to eternal life. And when we put this body down 00:04:18.769 --> 00:04:23.980 and we die, We will enter into life eternal and 00:04:23.980 --> 00:04:27.720 then be raised to glory. That's the story of 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:31.019 the cross. That's why that feast day is so important. 00:04:31.300 --> 00:04:34.240 But St. Paul, and this is my sermon today on 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:37.720 this verse, St. Paul in Galatians, which you 00:04:37.720 --> 00:04:41.439 heard, was encountering resistance to the cross. 00:04:41.699 --> 00:04:45.560 Those people in Galatia, many of them were ashamed 00:04:45.560 --> 00:04:50.920 of the cross of Christ. God decided to save the 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:54.240 world not through wisdom and not through power, 00:04:54.259 --> 00:04:58.839 but through weakness. Because God's weakness 00:04:58.839 --> 00:05:02.720 is stronger than the strength of this world. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:07.139 God's foolishness is wiser than the wisdom of 00:05:07.139 --> 00:05:13.980 this world. St. Paul writes, God forbid that 00:05:13.980 --> 00:05:17.740 I should boast in anything except the cross. 00:05:18.889 --> 00:05:21.649 What's he mean by that? He says he has to write 00:05:21.649 --> 00:05:24.329 this in his own hand in large letters. You know, 00:05:24.350 --> 00:05:28.750 he dictated his epistles. He had someone take 00:05:28.750 --> 00:05:31.350 it down. And he's at the end of the epistle, 00:05:31.370 --> 00:05:36.870 he's writing the words himself. God forbid that 00:05:36.870 --> 00:05:39.250 I should boast except in the cross of our Lord 00:05:39.250 --> 00:05:41.389 Jesus Christ, for whom the world has been crucified 00:05:41.389 --> 00:05:49.000 to me and I to the world. He means. That now 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:53.720 he's dead to whatever criticism, whatever anger, 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:56.620 whatever sickness, whatever terror, whatever 00:05:56.620 --> 00:05:59.399 evil and sin. He's dead to death because Christ 00:05:59.399 --> 00:06:04.819 has saved him. The world can't scare him. And 00:06:04.819 --> 00:06:07.920 his opponents, those who are ashamed of the cross, 00:06:08.220 --> 00:06:12.860 he says in another part of his letter, because 00:06:12.860 --> 00:06:17.310 they were promoting circumcision, he says, I 00:06:17.310 --> 00:06:22.290 hope they castrate themselves. St. Paul could 00:06:22.290 --> 00:06:29.069 be pretty rough. That's how deeply he felt about 00:06:29.069 --> 00:06:34.329 this. But can anything separate us from the love 00:06:34.329 --> 00:06:40.290 of God? He says no. But then why, brothers and 00:06:40.290 --> 00:06:43.930 sisters, are we so afflicted with hopelessness? 00:06:45.959 --> 00:06:51.439 Why do so many of us find our knowledge, our 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:58.759 information, not in here, not in the divine services 00:06:58.759 --> 00:07:02.480 in which we are given consolation from birth 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:07.360 to death, but in the evening and morning news? 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:13.000 Replace the evening and morning news with evening 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:18.139 and morning prayers. and your soul will be relieved 00:07:18.139 --> 00:07:27.720 of so much trouble. The Church of Christ announces 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:34.720 hope to those that are gripped with sin, who 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:37.500 don't know the cross, to those who have anger, 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:42.040 to those who are immersed in the ugly politics 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:45.370 and division. to those who are sick, to those 00:07:45.370 --> 00:07:48.470 who feel hopeless. The Church of Christ, the 00:07:48.470 --> 00:07:51.490 Word of God announces, and we should announce 00:07:51.490 --> 00:07:56.529 by the way that we live our life, hope. We should 00:07:56.529 --> 00:07:59.389 have those fruits of the Holy Spirit that St. 00:07:59.470 --> 00:08:03.350 Paul mentions, that we can have now, not in the 00:08:03.350 --> 00:08:06.709 life of the age to come, but now. Love, joy, 00:08:06.930 --> 00:08:12.100 peace, long -suffering, goodness, kindness. faithfulness, 00:08:12.220 --> 00:08:22.019 gentleness, self -control. We remember when we 00:08:22.019 --> 00:08:25.060 hold our cross, when we place our cross on us, 00:08:25.180 --> 00:08:28.699 when a child is baptized and given a cross, that 00:08:28.699 --> 00:08:34.519 Jesus, this is important, takes part in all our 00:08:34.519 --> 00:08:40.340 sufferings and he makes them easier. He helps 00:08:40.340 --> 00:08:44.299 us with our struggles against temptations by 00:08:44.299 --> 00:08:48.879 the power of the cross. And sin is forgiven. 00:08:49.620 --> 00:08:53.200 He strives with us. Can you believe that? Believe 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:56.600 it. He strives with us in our quest for virtues, 00:08:56.700 --> 00:09:01.159 for love, joy, peace, long -suffering, gentleness, 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:07.379 and so forth. And he uncovers our true nature. 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:13.519 who we are under the pile of sin that might be 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:17.740 on top of us. And until the end of the world, 00:09:17.799 --> 00:09:20.240 says St. Maximus the Confessor, whose fresco 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:23.820 is right over there, he always suffers with us 00:09:23.820 --> 00:09:26.779 secretly because of his goodness according to 00:09:26.779 --> 00:09:31.360 and in proportion to the suffering found in each 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:36.000 one of us. Count on it. You will have resistance 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.580 to the gospel. That's what St. Paul is saying 00:09:38.580 --> 00:09:47.639 in that verse from Galatians. Count on it. You're 00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:50.200 going to have resistance. I'm going to tell you 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:56.100 a story, a short little scene. Some of you have 00:09:56.100 --> 00:09:59.519 heard me say it. This is from... The life of 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:03.960 Father Felaretos of Mount Athos. He died in 1965. 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:09.179 He was a monk for 60 years at the monastery of 00:10:09.179 --> 00:10:16.759 Costa Monitou. He was sitting outside on a bench, 00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:23.299 looking downcast, looking rather blue, and a 00:10:23.299 --> 00:10:27.720 novice came up to him and says, Father, Why are 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:32.740 you looking sad? Because Father Filaretos was 00:10:32.740 --> 00:10:36.019 a man of deep, profound prayer, had experienced 00:10:36.019 --> 00:10:39.419 the uncreated light, was a river of God's love. 00:10:39.700 --> 00:10:41.820 When he would serve the Divine Liturgy, it was 00:10:41.820 --> 00:10:46.679 said that in the small chapel where he was assigned, 00:10:46.980 --> 00:10:50.960 sometimes he would stop, and the singers knew. 00:10:52.460 --> 00:10:55.340 The curtain was closed, the door was closed. 00:10:55.850 --> 00:10:59.490 And for one hour, he was in prayerful ecstasy. 00:11:00.549 --> 00:11:02.649 So that's not going to work in a parish. I know 00:11:02.649 --> 00:11:06.649 that. So besides, I'm not Father Philaretos. 00:11:07.289 --> 00:11:11.970 But he was looking extremely blue. And the novice 00:11:11.970 --> 00:11:14.429 said, Father, what's on your mind? Why are you 00:11:14.429 --> 00:11:21.820 so sad? He said, Son, God's abandoned me. The 00:11:21.820 --> 00:11:23.980 novice was shocked. God's abandoned you, Father. 00:11:24.059 --> 00:11:27.500 What do you mean? He said, Son, no temptations 00:11:27.500 --> 00:11:33.240 today. Now, is this man neurotic? No. He knew 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:37.080 that in the world you will have tribulations. 00:11:37.820 --> 00:11:41.000 In the world, if you hold the cross of Christ 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:44.100 close to you, you will have resistance from yourself, 00:11:44.440 --> 00:11:49.840 from the devil, and from... the fallen angels, 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:54.159 the demons. You will have temptations. You will 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:56.559 have troubles. You will have difficulties of 00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:59.500 all sorts. And he was saying, didn't happen today. 00:11:59.580 --> 00:12:03.799 What's wrong? Am I slipping? Is my heart not 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:07.879 with the Lord? Let's get our hearts with the 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:10.679 Lord, brothers and sisters. Remember that there's 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:13.539 always going to be a tension with the world when 00:12:13.539 --> 00:12:18.019 we hold the cross. Don't be ashamed of the cross, 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:23.059 but do your Christian work. Because when a Christian 00:12:23.059 --> 00:12:27.159 does his or her work in this world, it's done 00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:34.080 in union with Christ. It's not just us. It's 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:38.980 Christ. When we fast, it's Christ who fasts in 00:12:38.980 --> 00:12:44.220 us. When we pray, it's Christ who prays in us. 00:12:44.779 --> 00:12:48.019 When we give alms, it's Christ who gives alms 00:12:48.019 --> 00:12:52.039 to that person. Christ longs to fast within us. 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:55.600 He longs to pray in us. He longs to show mercy 00:12:55.600 --> 00:13:01.500 in us. The church, as I said, this glorious body 00:13:01.500 --> 00:13:09.379 of grace, it's not about a list of rules, a prescription 00:13:09.379 --> 00:13:12.559 for behaving ourselves. Like this man in the 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:16.200 gospel, the first gospel you heard. Master, what 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:19.000 do I need to do to inherit eternal life? I remember 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:21.440 last year it occurred to me and I said to you, 00:13:21.500 --> 00:13:23.600 that's like a man coming up to a woman that's 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:25.759 really attractive and says, what do I need to 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:28.440 do so you fall in love with me and marry me? 00:13:29.159 --> 00:13:32.500 He misses the point. It's about total commitment 00:13:32.500 --> 00:13:40.539 and love. The commandments of Christ are Christ. 00:13:43.789 --> 00:13:47.350 I'll leave you with this wonderful verse, which 00:13:47.350 --> 00:13:52.049 gives me heart. Stand fast, therefore, in the 00:13:52.049 --> 00:13:55.190 liberty by which Christ has made us free. Do 00:13:55.190 --> 00:13:59.429 not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 00:13:59.750 --> 00:14:03.289 Amen. To our Lord be glory, now and ever, to 00:14:03.289 --> 00:14:04.029 ages of ages.